This is your life. Do what you love. And do it often.
You’ve heard me say that before in this past post, and judging by the number of emails I got after that {and comments on the original blog post that didn’t transfer when I changed blogs – boo!}, it resonated with you as much as it resonated with me. It came back and smacked me in the head when I read this killer post from Allie at Between Dreams {where I found this video, also}. She asks, “What if money were no object?” What would we be doing if we didn’t have to worry about being paid to do it. What would we be doing if we could do what we love?
Life is far too short to live life doing things that we just don’t like doing. But what should we be doing?
That’s a thought that strikes me whenever I’m putting together a recipe post or a photography post for this blog, or when I’m looking at my 101 in 1001 list. I really don’t write a whole lot of posts or make a whole lot of goals having to do with my job, other than the odd goal here or there dealing with publications, conferences, or other aspects of professional research. Having noticed that, I have to ask, why don’t I write a lot of posts about my job? Does that mean I’m not really doing what I should be doing?
Here’s the truth. To start with, I love my job.
I’ve been an Army officer for twelve years now, and my job awes and amazes me on a regular basis. I’ve been some of the most beautiful places in the world because of it {Oahu, Germany, Guam, Palau, Washington state, Virginia’s blue ridge mountains, Fiji} and some places rich with history and, if you look for it, their own beauty that I never would have seen otherwise. Here are just a few samples from my last trip overseas:
St. Elijah’s Monastery, Mosul
Irbil
Al Faw Palace
Desert Rose
With Peshmerga in Irbil {of course, I blinked for this photo}
Irbil Province
Al Faw PalaceThat’s an Iraq I never expected to see.
To say that deployment has its hardships is a gross understatement, but not to say that you learn amazing things about the people you serve with, their strength and their spirit, and that you learn a lot about yourself, for better or for worse…well, that would be a gross lie by omission. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, and yet it’s an insight into the human psyche that opens your eyes to facets of humanity that normally stay hidden. Some are very dark, but some are incredibly, heartbreakingly beautiful. When I’m not deployed, I’m working with some pretty incredible individuals who have some pretty amazing stories. There are heroes among us in this modern day, and I’m lucky enough to walk around with them. As an analyst, I get to solve some of their biggest problems creatively, and I get to have a real, tangible impact.
I think I’m still reconciling my ability to descend into darkness and my ability to find beauty in it, and to deal with the scars that darkness left behind, so I don’t often write about it. Some of those memories are still very painful. But as I mentioned to an online friend who had the courage to write about her faith, it’s easy for us to write about fashion and design and food and the things we love without putting any of us into it. Real life is messy. Real life contains us.
But there’s a story in the us beneath the writing that adds depth and facets to the things we love. Traveling off to the far-off stretches of the world in terrible conditions and still finding beauty only made me all the more determined to make the best life possible for me and my family that I could when I came back to the land of plenty. I promised myself that I would live in constant appreciation of the life I led and the experiences surrounding me, that I wouldn’t waste those precious moments but cherish them and live them with a deliberate focus on the experience. Every moment is a gift. We should all be able to live that way.
I love my job. If money were no object, I would be still going out there trying to have the same experiences, trying to solve problems, trying to serve, trying to be part of an effort so much larger than myself. I write about cooking and photography and art and design, but the reason I’ve never chucked it all and run away to art school or culinary school is 1) I have talent for what I’m doing right now, 2) my career right now allows me to live with purpose, and 3) that purpose flows over into letting food, art, and design just further enrich my life.
So yes, I believe I am really doing what I should be doing. It’s just that until I thought about it, I missed the other side of the do what you love phrase. And that’s love what you do. Make the conscious decision to make the most of whatever it is you decide to do. Choose and live deliberately, with purpose. And remember, if nothing else, that every moment is a gift.
KCS
